The rocket launch.

This is a discussion on The rocket launch. within the General Discussions forums, part of the Community Boards category; I saw this story earlier...
BBC News - Mystery missile launch reported off California coast
... all very odd and ...

Suppose you were someone who wanted to harm the US, odd as it may sound, people like that actually do exist. Now you try to figure out a way to do that, but it's tough, because the US authorities have measures in place to try to prevent things like that happening. So, can you get someone else to do it for you, you think. Hell, what if we fake a missile launch! The others might think it was the US launching an ICBM attack as certainly no launches were expected. Hell, we'd better fire ours back now before their stuff gets here.

So you're saying that someone acting on foreign interests conducts a hoax and that results in immediate, knee-jerk military action from elsewhere. I don't think that anywhere in the world are you going to find such an irresponsible government. Cooler heads will prevail in the worst of circumstances.

That is a jet not a missile. It appears that the winds of the day have turned the jet vapor trail into sort of a lenticular cloud like those seen near and around mountain ranges. Lenticular clouds are responsible for all kinds of false UFO sightings as well as a host of other bizarre sightings.

Vapor trails can also stay aloft and remain dense depending on upper atmospheric conditions. Normally they vanish a couple of minutes after the jet passes but when conditions are right vapor trails can extend for hundreds of miles and retain most of their shape.

If you notice near the horizon the vapor trail is succumbing to the various upper level winds. Also if you notice the angle of the sun in the photo you can tell the trail is not vertical but horizontal. The only things that make it appear like it is a missile trail is the dark hues on the left side of the trail, the diffusion that has happened in the older portions of the trail (near the horizon), and the parallax in the frames making it appear as though the object is moving away at high speed when in fact it is moving towards the camera at high altitude and in level flight.

Also missiles do not normally leave these types of vapor trails. Only the Space Shuttle and space-bound vehicles can leave that long and large vertical trail. Nothing in the trail shape shows it is a vertical trail. Vertical trails normally stay quite distinct near the bottom and often show signs of turbulence since they are the result of gasses being expelled at high velocities. Compare this trail to Space Shuttle launches and you will see that many things are missing....most noticeably turbulence caused by a rocket engine. Also notice the trajectory of the trail. You can plainly see that rockets do not elevate a couple hundred feet and then suddenly bolt off in another direction. The Shuttle does roll and arc over but it's trail always has a constant arc to it leading right back down to the launch pad.

This appears to be a combination of atmospheric conditions combined with camera angle and thus parallax that is causing the illusion that this is a vertical trail instead of a horizontal trail. There are better pictures of past events that actually look like rockets due to the turbulence in the clouds: http://www.smartplanet.com/technolog...at-wasnt/5646/

This particular trail has little or no turbulence in it and is nothing close to a rocket trail. Another thing to note is that if this was a missile launched from the ground based on the camera distance from the object you would not see the bottom of the trail. It would never hit the horizon b/c near the horizon you are looking through more air and thus you would not see the bottom of the trail. If you watch the video you can see flashing which most people say is a rocket motor. I've seen a lot of Shuttle launches and rocket launches on TV and the NASA site and have always seen the flame of the rockets near the top of the trail which is abent from this supposed launch. The flashing light is most likely a red tail strobe light mixed with front leading edge flashing lights as well as the left/right wing lights of a commercial aircraft.

But people see what they want regardless so I'm sure this will go down as a secret missile launch from a sub, or a secret launch by another party, or some government cover up, or....you name it. People see what they want to.

EDIT:
Apparently there are a bunch of idiots on the internet b/c this thing is everywhere now and theories are flying around. For me all I had to do was count the seconds between flashes to realize that the light is definitely following the same period as expected from a tail strobe light on a commerical aircraft. If you also watch the rolling of the light it looks exactly like a jet flying across the night sky. Some are claiming this is a sun glint but it is not b/c the sun glint would not follow the 1 to 1.5 second period that you see it in the video. Aircraft always have their lights on (landing lights are on as well under 12K) but they are most pronounced in the evening and at night for obvious reasons.
Some people.